2016 Budget: UK growth revised down

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published its latest fiscal outlook, outlining its forecasts for the UK economy.

The OBR has stated that it expects the economy to grow at a slower rate over the next five years than it had previously anticipated.

Additionally, Robert Chote, Chairman of the OBR, has stated that productivity growth has been revised downwards, meaning that the cash size of the UK economy is now 3% smaller than had been forecast in November.

Previously, the OBR had predicted the economy to grow by 2.4% during this year, but now anticipates a growth rate of 2.0%.

Furthermore, growth over the next two years has been reduced by 0.3 percentage points, whilst figures for 2019 and 2020 are down from 2.3% to 2.1%.

Chancellor George Osborne explained that the cuts had been made due to a stall in growth in other parts of the world.

Within its report, the OBR stated: ‘In the short time since our November forecast, economic developments have disappointed and the outlook for the economy and the public finances looks materially weaker’.